Wood Harris

Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO crime drama The Wire, cocaine dealer Ace in Paid in Full and high school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 film Remember the Titans. He is also known for playing Brooke Payne on the BET miniseries The New Edition Story in 2017. Currently he plays Barry Fouray on VH1 miniseries The Breaks. 2Early life Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of seamstress Mattie and bus driver John Harris. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a Master of Arts from New York University. He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris. 2Career While enrolled in NIU, Harris starred in his first major film role in the basketball drama Above the Rim, starring opposite Tupac Shakur, and appeared in many theatrical stage productions of various off-Broadway plays. Harris subsequently guest-starred in a variety of television and film venues before portraying legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix in Showtime's 2000 movie, Hendrix. Later that year, Harris received his first NAACP Image Award nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" along with the Blockbuster Movie Award nomination for "Favorite Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" for his role as Julius "Big Ju" Campbell in Remember the Titan